We tried the Panku street food counter in Newport’s Asda

It doesn’t conjure up quite as many red flags as sushi sold in petrol stations, but the idea of hours-old, room temperature food still comes to mind.

So, when Asda announced plans to open a new Asian inspired street food counter at the Newport store in Pill, a few eyebrows were raised.

Towards the back of the store, where the fishmonger used to reside, Panku Street Kitchen now finds itself at home.

Following a successful trial at 20 supermarkets nationwide, customers in Newport can now pick up Japanese, Korean and Thai inspired dishes, which are freshly made in store.

Spicy Teriyaki Chicken Bento

The concession sells main meals, sides, sushi, and desserts, and there is a large range of vegetarian and vegan options too – no longer are these treated as an afterthought.

Here at the Argus, we wondered where the street food kitchen fits in on the scale – from takeaway to ready meal.

To answer that question, we tried some out for ourselves.

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What can you expect?

Firstly, to address the elephant before it enters the room – there is no sushi in our basket.

Why? Quite simply, and slightly shamefully, unless it is deep fried and served with chips, fish is unlikely to find itself on my plate.

But, as a regular at Newport’s Chinese takeaways, and a fan of a Tesco Thai ready meal, the other aspects of this counter are the right kind of meal for me.

Though we visited the store at 5.30pm on a Thursday, there was still a fair few options left to choose from – if not a full range.

Korean Beef Noodles

This taught us a valuable lesson about visiting earlier in the day for a full selection.

That being said, we were still able to pick up a Spicy Teriyaki Chicken Bento, Korean Beef noodles, and raspberry and white chocolate mochi for dessert – which is practically sushi, one could argue.

The main dishes, which cost £5 each are sizeable, it has to be said.

Two things that really stand out are the amount of meat in each meal – some supermarket ready meals are known to be fairly stingy in this regard. But, no such issues here.

Secondly, the freshness of the dishes. Despite being microwaved as instructed, the vegetables tasted fresh and had a real crunch to them.

A caution to anyone who might not be a fan of spicy food though – you might expect some heat from a Spicy Chicken Teriyaki dish – especially with fiery red pepper powder on full display, but even the dishes without the word spicy in them pack a little bit of a punch.

Finally, for anyone looking just to pick up a little sweet treat during a supermarket trip – do not overlook the mochi. Texturally pretty alien, but absolutely delicious to eat.

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Is it worth it?

As good as the meal was, the question remains, is Panku Street Kitchen worth it?

From a quality, taste, and convenience perspective, absolutely.

But, two main dishes and a dessert cost £12.50, and that is without any sides, or a dessert for a second person.

Raspberry and White Chocolate Mochi

For two, you could quite easily be looking at £20 or more.

It certainly puts it above the typical ready meal price point – especially with supermarkets taking advantage of “dine out for two” offers and such.

There is no doubt that it is more in the takeaway price range – though in fairness, it is probably closer to takeaway standards of food, too.

Ultimately, if you fancy a takeaway, without wanting to order one, Panku Street Kitchen at Asda in Pill is well worthy of entering the conversation.